This month brings us the inaugural Festival of Learning – an expanded successor to the hugely popular, long-running Adult Learners’ Week.

The festival – delivered by the Learning and Work Institute – is a major celebration of lifelong learning across England, from informal, participatory and community-level learning, to work-based training. Organisations up and down the country will be running events, taster sessions and have-a-go activities; there is also a sister programme of similar events and activities in Wales.

The role of heritage

Adult learning – whether for enjoyment, skills development, health and wellbeing, to feel part of a community, or for a host of other reasons – has always been an integral part of the educational work that we do in the heritage sector; it has an important place in HLF’s outcomes framework. As neatly expressed by my predecessor Miranda Stearn in a blog from summer 2015:

“Heritage projects can have a particularly important role to play in encouraging people to enjoy learning, throughout their lives. They can provide opportunities for appealing, non-intimidating activities in places associated with fun and leisure time rather than formal learning environments…”

[quote]“Heritage can offer a means to provide engaging, fulfilling learning experiences for individuals and groups who may have experienced pronounced barriers to learning in the past.”[/quote]

Heritage can offer a means to provide engaging, fulfilling learning experiences for individuals and groups who may have experienced pronounced barriers to learning in the past. In this blog, my colleague Liz Ellis presents a lovely snapshot of a Mencap Cymru project which offered adults with learning disabilities training to gather oral and community histories exploring the memories of former residents and staff at long-stay hospitals in Wales.

Meanwhile, Manchester-based charity Back On Track have recently worked with local heritage organisations (including Archives+ and the People’s History Museum) to help ex-offenders develop digital and creative skills, and to support them towards future employment.

How learning changes lives

The potential of heritage participation to help people gain new skills and a fresh start sits at the centre of HLF’s current Changing Lives campaign. Each week we’re sharing a new story to show how one of our projects has supported someone to flourish, and many of these illustrate the experiences of adult learners.

For example, Paul McCann found an unexpected new career as a tour guide through taking part in a project to collect the histories of Sandy Row in West Belfast. A HND and then an apprenticeship with the National Trust for Scotland have enabled Lila Ruhurimbere to find permanent paid work at the David Livingstone Centre in Blantyre; she’s now aiming to do a BA in curatorial studies to further advance a museums career that she had once thought almost impossible for her as a migrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Keep an eye on our Changing Lives campaign – all of the stories are collected both on our site and on Tumblr -and it can also be followed via the Twitter hashtag #ChangingLives. Please share any of the stories that inspire you, and let us know if you have HLF-supported learners, volunteers or project leaders who might be featured in the campaign in the future.

Join the Festival of Learning

In England, if your organisation is running adult and community learning activities over the next two months, you can add them to the Festival’s learner-focused Events Calendar. We also encourage you to explore the listings to discover what’s on in your area; this could be the perfect opportunity to take up that class you’ve always wanted to do – you’ll find everything from Medieval Latin to garden design!

[quote]“Nominations are also currently open for the annual Festival of Learning Awards, which showcase and celebrate the transformative impact of learning.”[/quote]

Nominations are also currently open for the annual Festival of Learning Awards, which showcase and celebrate the transformative impact of learning for individuals, families, communities and employers. There are categories for learners, tutors, projects and employers, and the winners will be announced at an event in Birmingham in September 2016. The deadline for applications is 5pm Friday 20 May and it would be great to see HLF-supported projects being nominated.

The Festival also has a Partner Hub, where you can get access to a range of resources to help you plan and promote your learning activities, including posters, event planning and brand toolkits, and an image library. And you can get involved on Twitter and by using the hashtag #lovetolearn!

Come talk to us…

This Thursday 12 May from 12.30pm-1.30pm, tune in for to our next live chat. We will be discussing adult learning in heritage, and the Festival, in more detail. 

At HLF we’re always keen to receive more project proposals that feature strong adult learning opportunities; we hope the Festival of Learning 2016 will provide year-round inspiration to the heritage sector to think about new partnerships.

If you have an idea for a project that will provide opportunities for more people, and a wider range of people, to engage with heritage do take a look at our learning guidance, have a read of some case studies for inspiration, and get in touch.